Novell Continues to Offer the Fastest Net Experience

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net services software, today announced that new tests prove that caching appliances powered by the Novell® Internet Caching System (ICS) continue to deliver unmatched performance and scalability to Internet-enabled environments. Since its initial release in 1999, the Novell Internet Caching System has consistently been recognized as the premier performance platform for Internet acceleration. Industry-leading OEM partners such as Dell, Compaq, IBM, Fujitsu/Siemens, Stratacache and others combine their own specialized hardware with Novell ICS technology to create optimized caching appliances suitable for the rigors of eBusiness. In a world where a slow Web site means lost customers, the Novell Internet Caching System means more than speed it means a better bottom line.

The Measurement Factory, Inc.'s Third Cache-Off event, held during the latter half of September 2000, demonstrated the continuing dominance of Novell ICS-based OEM partner caching appliances in several areas, including best price/performance value, pure throughput, and performance for a single appliance.

Five Novell OEM partners participated in the latest round of the Cache Bake-Off, including Compaq, Dell, IBM, Microbits (Australia), and Stratacache. Noticeably absent from the competition were CacheFlow, Cisco and Inktomi.

First Place in pure throughput went to a cluster of four Dell PowerApp.cache systems with a remarkable 3309.40 Requests/second and 1728.50 Hits/second. The Dell PowerApp.cache cluster demonstrates how a strong Dell/ICS solution can be scaled out to provide the performance and scalability suitable for even the most demanding carrier-level environments.

"As the Cache Bake-off attests, the Dell PowerApp.cache cluster, built with Novell ICS, cannot be surpassed," said Karl Chen, director of worldwide marketing for Dell's Enterprise Systems Group. "This powerful caching solution offers greater throughput than any other competitor and represents an unrivaled ability to handle the most demanding volume of traffic. Dell's PowerApp.cache offers eBusinesses accelerated content delivery, quality Web service and the power to handle an extremely high number of Web customers."

The Compaq TaskSmart C2500 easily took top performance honors among single appliance solutions with peak throughput of 2,398.79 Requests/second and 1,280.71 Hits/second. This was accomplished while still maintaining high hit ratios, low response times and optimal fill times.

"By building Novell's caching system into the core of the TaskSmart C-Series appliance, Compaq has delivered a solution that is extremely well-equipped to meet the growing demands of eBusiness. Compaq TaskSmart appliance servers provide leading performance backed up by comprehensive management features, ease of integration into any computing environment, and global service and support offerings. With ICS, the TaskSmart C2500 can manage more requests and hits per second than any other single Web acceleration appliance. For eBusinesses, this translates into a more positive Web experience for new and existing customers through decreased wait time and quick, reliable content delivery," said John Young, Vice President of TaskSmart Servers at Compaq.

First Place in the "Best Price/Performance value" category belongs to the Stratacache Dart with 153.06 Requests/second per $1000 and 85.74 Hits/second per $1000. The Stratacache Dart D-20 is the first high performance, micro site caching appliance designed for the broadband attached home and small business. It takes high performance caching, content acceleration and content delivery not only to the last mile, but to the last foot of the Internet and proves that the benefits of cache technology can be delivered to the home and small business markets.

"Fortified with Novell ICS, our Stratacache Dart offers substantial benefits to the millions of new small businesses and broadband-enabled homes," said Chris Riegel, Product Manager of Stratacache. "The chief benefit to consumers is the exceptional enhancement of the 'Net user experience that the Novell ICS/Stratacache Dart appliance delivers. This offering represents the industry's first caching product expressly targeted to the meet the needs of the dynamically growing broadband attached small business or home user."

As with all previous NLANR Cache-Off competitions, Novell Internet Caching System-based appliances continue to demonstrate their unmatched performance and scalability in the face of an increasingly crowded competitive field. Providing unparalleled value, Novell helps businesses reduce the costs of their Net infrastructure while providing rapid results to customers, improving customer satisfaction. Novell and its OEM partners will continue to work closely together to maintain and strengthen this advantage while moving aggressively toward an expanded line of caching-based services that will continue to add value. Additionally, Novell is demonstrating the vision to leverage the cache as a platform for delivering a wide range of value-added services that will help drive the next generation of innovative Internet use. This includes such things as robust media delivery, flexible Web security and seamless integration with content distribution mechanisms.

About Novell Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL), is the leading provider of Net services software that delivers services to secure and power all types of networks the Internet, intranets, and extranets; wired to wireless; corporate and public across leading operating systems. Novell's Net services software provides the foundation for one Net a single global network that supports new applications and forms of business. Worldwide channel, consulting, education and technical support programs, along with strategic alliances, combine Novell Net services software with third-party products and services to form complete Net solutions.

For information on Novell's complete range of products and services, contact Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272), or visit Novell's Web site at http://www.novell.com. Press may access Novell announcements and company information on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com/pressroom. In addition, detailed comparisons between Novell products and competitive offerings from other vendors are available on the Web at http://www.novell.com/competitive.

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